>> senator from massachusetts. >> thank you, mr. president. i rise today to exrest my strong support finish express my strong support for efforts to stamp out sexual assault in our military. and i want to begin by thanking the senator from maryland and the senator from maine for your extraordinary leadership in bringing us here today to speak out on this issue. for over 20 years, our military has said that it has a zero tolerance policy towards sexual violence. government agencies have put out 20 reports examining the problem and suggesting potential solutions. and yet shamefully, incidents of sexual assault involving our military personnel continue at staggering rates. data from the department of defense indicate that thousands of men and women serving in the military are subject to these horrific experiences every year. more than 20% of women serving in the military have reported unwanted sexual contact at some point during the course of their military service. and perhaps most shameful, about half of all female victims in a 2012 dod survey